Page 42 of Bite Marks

Vanessa couldn’t still the sharp gasp that escaped her. Lenny, in his bear form, was on top of Nunzio.

Nunzio whined, trying to get out from under the shifter. But Lenny held still, putting his entire weight on the wolf’s body.

With his free claw, the bear swiped dangerously at Nunzio’s face. The wolf gave a shrill, sharp bark of pain. The bear lifted his claw again and again. He beat at the wolf’s face, and Vanessa winced each time. Soon blood was pooling on the floor beneath Nunzio’s head.

Her heart beat erratically again. It beat so painfully against her chest that she gasped out loud. The sharp agony that sparked in her chest was almost unbearable as she watched Nunzio getting hurt.

Suddenly, the wolf’s body looked fragile. Even though, in reality, Nunzio would stand almost as tall as she did. Even though he weighed hundreds of pounds. To Vanessa, he looked like a rag doll getting thrown around.

And it hit her then as she realized what she stood to lose.Why hadn’t she told him that she loved him?Vanessa asked herself frantically.

There had been so many opportunities. She had squandered them all.

Just then, the wolf shifter had had enough, it seemed.

Because before Lenny could claw at him again, the wolf rolled away.

Then, in one fluid movement, he leapt up onto its feet. Nunzio shook the blood off his muzzle. And then, limping forward, he gave a low, warning snarl.

The bear growled back, and the wolf leapt.

How was Nunzio still fighting when he was so wounded?Vanessa asked herself. Her emotions were a heady combination of fascination and fear.

All she could see was Nunzio’s blood dropping on the floor of the basement. Some of it even landed right in front of her.

Nunzio’s blood was only inches away from her hands. She pulled her hands away, shuddering.

The bear and wolf ripped and tore into one another. After Lenny’s vicious attack, Nunzio seemed more ruthless.

The wolf advanced quickly at the bear, clawing at the bear’s ankles. Lenny whined with pain. Nunzio gave a short, sharp bark.

Vanessa could almost hear him laughing.

Nunzio kept clawing at the bear, pulling at fur and flesh. Lenny stumbled back, but the wolf kept following him. It snapped and clawed, and more flesh went flying.

All landing only inches away from Vanessa’s hiding place.

All she thought as she watched the relentless fight was, who would win?

TWENTY

VANESSA

Vanessa looked back at Lenny and Nunzio, still locked in a deadly fight, both having taken a few deadly blows. That was the first time she had ever seen a shifter fight.

They were slowing, and she trembled as she watched how sluggish the wolf had become. She feared for what that would mean as the bear lunged forward.

She fought a scream as she saw that the bear was going to land on Nunzio’s back. She knew he wouldn’t survive it, but what she hadn’t expected was that Nunzio had been biding his time.

The wolf lunged upward with what seemed to be the last of his reserved strength, and his jaws tore into the bear’s exposed stomach. He ripped at the unprotected organs, making the bear fall to the side.

Vanessa held her breath as the wolf limped back, surveying the bear. But Lenny didn’t move again. Nunzio had won … just barely.

The battle had been vicious. Their inhuman growls still seemed to echo off the walls of the hollow building. Nunzio's wolf had been fast, striking with calculated blows that still had her mind whirring. The more she had watched his wolf, the more she recognized the man. It was like she was finally seeing all of him.

Beautiful and deadly, Nunzio had guarded her like Cerberus at the entrance of the underworld. She knew he wouldn't let anything happen to her … now or ever.

Now that the battle had ended, both men shifted back. Vanessa was frozen in shock as she watched. Her brain couldn't compute how two men could change their skin as easily as breathing.

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